Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-08-20
The Land Grant TO the Central
Pacific Railroad.

company IN answer to questions pro-
pounded by the United States Commission
of Inquiry recently in session in San Fran
cisco. The statement below contains some
additions to the matters originally pre-
scented
OFFICE LAND DEPARTMENT,
CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY,
SAN FRANCISCO, June 20. 1887
Hon. Leland Stanford, President Central
Pacific Railroad CompGny-MY DEAR SIR:
Answering the inquiries transmitted bv
you to this department of the Board of
Commissioners to examine into the affairs
of the Central Pacific Railroad Company,
and touching the land grant to said rail-
road company, / have to respectfully re-
port to yo1. as follows: That the Act of
1862, grantsato the company for the pur-
pose OF aiding in the construction of rail-
road and telegraph line;
Every alternate section of public land
designated by odd numbers to the amount
of five sections per mile on each side of the
said road on the line thereof, and within
the limits of ten miles on each side of said
road, not already sold, reserved or other
wise disposed OF by the United States, and
10 which homestead or presumption claim
may not have attached at the time the line
of said road is definitely fixedr
The Act further excepted from the opera
ton OF the grant all mineral land, but
where the came contained timber the tim
Der thereon was granted. The provision
relating to this subject is found in Section
) of the Act approved July l, 1862. By the
passage of the Act of 1864. entitled IAN
Act to amend an Act entitled: An Act to
aid il the construction of a railroad and
telegraph line from the Missouri river to
the Pacific ocean, ETC. " the third section
of the Act of 1862 above summarized and
quoted was amended by striking out the
word five J" where it occurs and inserting
IN lieu thereof the word "ten, and by
striking out the word ten" where it &C.
ours in the original section and inserting
in lieu thereof the word twenty
Thus amended, the granting Acts gave
land IN odd-numbered sections to the
amount of twenty sections per mile on
each side of the line of road
The Act approved July, 1864, amended
and modified the mineral reservation by
declaring that the term mineral lands,'
wherever the same occurs in the Act
should not be construed to include coal and
iron land These provisions are found in
Section of the Act of 1864. The rights
of the company under the grants of 1862
and 1854 attached to the land granted coin
Cident with the time of the definite loca-
ton OF the road, and the filing of the map
of definite location with the Secretary of
the Interior. 1t should be observed that
the date OF the filing of the map of def
mite location of the road identifies the land
granted, and initiates the definite rights of
the company. suspending the operation of
the homestead and pre- emption laws of
the United States but that the right of the
company to select lands by lists of selec-
lions for the purpose of obtaining record
a n n nv -
by the Government of the United States
accrued only at the date of the acceptance
by the President of the United States of
the road or section of the road when COM
pleted, TO wit, November, 1874.
The provision of law above referred to is
found in Section of the Act of 1862
which reads:
Whenever the said company shall have
completed forty consecutive miles of said
railroad and telegraph line, ready for the
service contemplated by this Act the Presi-
dent of the United States shall appoint
three Commissioners to examine the same.
and report to him in relation thereto; and
if 1t shall appear to him that forty consecu-
tive miles of said railroad and telegraph
line have been completed and equipped in
all respects as required by this Act, then
upon the certificate of said Commissioners
10 that effect patents shall issue conveying
the right and title to said lands to the COM
pany on each side of said road as far as the
same is completed
The right, then, of the company to Sc
lect the land granted accrued on the date
when the Commissioners referred to in the
law filed their certificate of acceptance by
the President with the Interior Depart
ment of the Government The date Of the
acceptance of the first fifty miles eastward
from Sacramento is September s, 1864, and
the road between Promontory and Ogden
was accepted by the President July 15, 1869,
and the whole finally accepted in Novem-
Der, 1874.
1t will be observed that the right of the
company to select lands for the purpose of
receiving record evidence of title by way of
patents from the Government did not ac-
'Crue prior to the dates above referred to;
that it was right which could not be ex-
ercised until the lands were surveyed and
the plattings of surveys properly executed
and filed in the local land offices of the
United States, after first having been ap-
proved by the Surveyors for the
respective States and Territories through
which the line runs. In addition to this,
by rule of the Department. no selections
are permitted until ninety days have ex-
plred after the date of filing and approval
of the township plats by the Surveyor Gen
eral. at the time the right of the company
10 ask for patents accrued, by the accept
auce of the various sections of the road by
the President of the United States, but a
very small proportion of the lands within
the granted limits were surveyed, and
still smaller proportion properly plated
and the plats filed in the offices of the Sur
yeyor- General. An examination of the
official plats reveals the fact that between
the dates ofthe surveys and the dates of their
final approval by the Surveyor-General,
there IS frequently period of two or three
years.
The Act Of 1864 added five alternate odd
numbered sections on each side of the road,
and attached new and important condi-
ton precedent to requirement of record
title. Section u of the Act of 1864 pro-
yides:
THAT before any land granted by this
Act shall be conveyed to any company or
party entitled thereto under this Act. there
shall first be paid into The Treasury of the
United States the cost of surveying. select
ing and conveying the same by the said
company or party in interest, as the title
shall be req,,Sred by the said company"
By this provision new condition was
imposed not found in the Act of 1862, to
wit, that requiring the company to pay the
costs OF surveying, selecting and conveying
the land. This new condition entailed
large additional expenditure of money by
the cost of the items mentioned but it, at
the same time, defined the right of the
company as to when such costs should be
paid. In unequivocal language it de-
clareo that the costs of surveying, select
ing and conveying the land should be
paid by the company as the title should
be required by it, thus vesting in the
company the right of election as to
when these fees should be paid, and the
record of title obtained. The early occu-
pancy and settlement of the region through
which the railroad passed was obviously
consistent with the highest interests of the
company, that the Congress of the United
States evidently depended upon this most
obvious interest alone for the early dispo-
sitionsof the land. The subsequent action
of the company proves that in entertaining
this opinion the Congress of the United
States was not mistaken. From the very
outset the company inaugurated the policy
of taking titles TO the land as rapidly as
such record evidence of title could be OBJ
tained from the Government, and even be-
fore the completion of the first section of
fifty miles eastward from Sacramento, and
in anticipation of its early completion,
yourself as President of the Central Pacific
Railroad Company, addressed letter to
Hon. John 2. Usher, Secretary of the In